Suspended Odisha DFO sent to 14-day judicial custody

The crorepati Odisha Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) arrested and subsequently suspended from job following detection of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income was today sent to 14-day judicial custody after being produced before court.

The suspended Athagarh DFO Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra was today produced before a Special Vigilance court here.

The investigating officers produced the tainted officer before the court and did not seek further remand following which he was sent to 14-day judicial custody.

The forest officer did not move his bail petition in the court either, sources said.

Earlier, the Vigilance had taken Mishra on a three-day remand on February 26 which ended last week.

It may be recalled that Mishra was arrested on February 25, a day after anti-corruption wing sleuths raided at 10 places simultaneously at Bhubaneswar, Bolangir, Cuttack, Bhawanipatna, Sambalpur, Berhampur, Sonepur and Puri and had detected movable and immovable property to the tune of Rs 6 crore.

Yesterday, the state government suspended Mishra following a departmental inquiry.

The 1987 batch OFS officer was placed under suspension for allegedly amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The officer, however, claimed that the money seized from his possession during raids belong to his father-in-law who made money through real estate deals.

Notably, Mishra joined the service as a Class-II officer as Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF). Later, he was promoted to Class-I rank in May, 2007 and posted at different places as the DFO. He was posted as DFO in Angul and Berhampur before he was posted at Athagarh four months ago.